Less than 2 weeks to go now and I am feeling pretty confident. I can’t believe what I have managed to do so far – from not swimming at all just a few months ago I have gone to swimming 750m before school and not really thinking much of it. I have swum a mile just to check I can actually do it and have kept up the swimming despite a heavy work load (ok, I haven’t swum as much as I would have liked but I’m still going which is what matters)

One thing I have realised and has made me reminisce is that swimming makes you hungry. I was certainly ready for breakfast after my swim this morning. It made me think about the time when I learnt to swim. I was about 6 or 7 and my parents had signed me up for swimming lessons. I enjoyed them but what I enjoyed most of all was that our instructor ‘punished’ us for being naughty by throwing us in the deep end at the end of the lesson. I loved being thrown in and, although I was never a particularly naughty kid, I made sure I messed about just enough to be thrown in a couple of times. I gained the nickname ‘water rat’ from my family as a result. I wasn’t a strong swimmer but I enjoyed being in the water. I’ve realised that this hasn’t changed! The best bit about swimming lessons wasn’t the swim but the food afterwards. My great-grandmother made a fantastic macaroni ham & cheese by the time I got home. I have never eaten a mac & cheese that good since (and I’ve never understood why in this country most people seem to leave out the ham!) So here’s my plan for 12th July, when I have swum my mile I will go home and eat macaroni, ham and cheese in honour of ‘meet’ (Flemish name we called our great-grandmother)